On Demand movie highlights

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(All New on Comcast) The adaptation of Veronica Roth’s sci-fi fantasy novel is good enough to make you forget what a cynical “Hunger Games” knock-off it is. Director Neil Burger (“The Illusionist”) improves on the book with intelligence and visual flair before the overplotting and sequel-mongering take over. With Shailene Woodley, likable but miscast in the lead, Theo James, Ashley Judd, and Kate Winslet. (PG-13; runs through Nov. 30)

Noah ★★½

(All New on Comcast) Equal parts ridiculous and magnificent, Darren Aronofsky’s biblical epic elaborates on the Book of Genesis with subplots, additional characters, Russell Crowe as a fearsome patriarch, and computer-generated effects that would have Cecil B. DeMille drooling. The parts of “Noah” that don’t work really, truly don’t. But the parts that do almost sweep you away in the flood. (PG-13; runs through Jan. 8)

(Showtime on Comcast) A by-the-numbers basketball drama that’s also 2½ hours of sermonizing about the state of urban youth. Samuel L. Jackson plays the daunting real-life California high school coach who wouldn’t let his team play unless they got better grades. His lectures on self-worth are important, but the long and cluttered movie is not. (PG-13; runs through Sept. 2)